If you value your privacy, pay cash!!

What electronic payments reveal about you to lenders
Your credit card is a tattletale, telling creditors about your behavior
By Connie Prater
Editor's note: See updated version of this article: What you buy, where you shop can affect your credit
Think of it as an electronic bug in your wallet.
Every time you make a purchase on a credit card or debit card, a record of that transaction is logged into a database of information collected by your credit card issuer
Read more: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-purchase-privacy-1282.php#ixzz1DBm0jAnP

In exchange for the convenience of using plastic, you also give up something some people hold dear -- privacy. Many privacy experts warn that consumers should be mindful of what they buy with plastic.
How much do credit card issuers know about your purchases? What can they legally do with the information?
Privacy questions
"Obviously that is something that most credit cardholders are not going to think about," says Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a San Diego-based privacy rights groups. "They've obtained a credit card and think they can go out and use it in any way they like."
Have you used your credit card at merchants specializing in secondhand clothing, retread tires, bail bond services, massages, casino gambling or betting? Your credit card issuer may be taking note -- and making decisions about your creditworthiness based on your purchasing behavior. The reason: Buying used clothing or retread tires may be an indication of financial distress and a preamble to missed credit card payments or defaults.
Increasingly, issuers tightening lending standards are using purchasing data as a basis for increasing interest rates, reducing credit limit or both on customers considered more risky by virtue of where they shop or what types of goods and services they buy.

Experts say cardholders concerned about keeping purchasing habits private or avoiding credit score dings should consider using cash or gift, stored value or prepaid debit cards. Shopping at large supermarkets or wholesale clubs -- which offer a variety of product lines -- may also keep some purchases private. Other tips: Spread purchases that may indicate risky behavior over several credit cards to avoid triggering an alert for a single issuer.
Read more: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-purchase-privacy-1282.php#ixzz1DBmcFXlM
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